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Wherever We Go

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

            Isn’t it wonderful that God chooses to be present with us always!  No matter where we go, He is there with us.  His presence is our peace.

            I just returned home from a week away.  Missed two Sundays at church.

            Now I know in my mind that God is with me, even when I am away.  But it’s one thing to know something in your mind, and another thing to know it in your heart.

            Whenever I go away, I bring my Bible with me.  Do you?

            It’s not that I’m trying to impress God.  It’s that I really, really need God, especially when I go away.  You see, there is this insecure part of me that thinks that when I go away from church, I go away from God.

            Last week I read Psalm 139 over and over again.

            “Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?” (vs.7)

            Because I was vacationing at the beach, the next part really spoke to me…

            “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”(vs. 9-10)

            Reading it over and over was comforting, but I realized that faith, in God’s constant presence with us, does not come with effort.  Faith is always a gift.

            Is it really so surprising that we should doubt?  Maybe doubt is not the right word.

            “You hem me in – behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”(vs. 5-6)

            So in prayer, I asked for faith.  I asked God for a strong and secure faith in His constant presence with me, wherever I go.

            In so many ways last week, God let me know very clearly that He is with me.  Praise Him!  I think it was His way of letting me know that He heard my prayer, and that He is going to do this good work in me.

            God is with you too, always!  He is with you wherever you go.  He will never leave you. 

In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises that He is “with you always”.  Do you believe this?  Ask God to deepen your faith.  I’m praying this week that He will.

Posted in Faith, Prayer | No Responses »
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The Gates of Righteousness

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

                         “Open for me the gates of righteousness;

                                    I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

                        This is the gate of the LORD

                                    through which the righteous may enter.

                        I will give you thanks, for you answered me;

                                    you have become my salvation.” (Psalm 118:19-21)

            I’ve learned to get up early in the morning, before the day gets a hold on me, to seek The Lord.   Thank God for devotionals!  They get me focused in the right direction, focused on His Word.

            This daily habit of opening my Bible is like a ritual entering through “the gates of righteousness”.  It reminds me of who I am, where I am going and to whom I belong – all that the day’s struggles would have me forget.

            The LORD has “become my salvation”, praise Him!  Thank you Lord!  Thank you Jesus.

Posted in Priorities, Word | No Responses »
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The Gate Is Open

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

            I love reading the Psalms, but I keep forgetting that most of them were intended to be sung, not read.  When you think about the ancients – people just like you and me – in worship, singing these beautiful words of praise, forgiveness, thankfulness and trust, the Psalms come alive.

            Psalm 24 is neat.  Have you read (oops, sorry!), have you ‘sung’ this one?  The notes in my study Bible suggest that this psalm of David may have been written to celebrate the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, and tradition says that it was sung in worship services on the first day of each week.

            What’s really neat is that this psalm was likely re-enacted at the temple too.  Here’s how it would go.  People standing outside the temple gate would call for it to open for the “King of glory”.  Priests would call back from inside the gate with, “Who is this King of glory?”  Back outside, the people would respond, “The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.”  Then the whole thing would be repeated until finally the gate would open, a symbol of how the people wanted God to be present with them.

            I love to close my eyes and picture those ancients doing this.  Imagine how faith-building it must have been to physically open that gate for God!

            “The LORD strong and mighty” was not present with His people then in the way that He is present with us now.  Sin kept them apart from Him, like a locked gate.  Easter is all about how Jesus Christ unlocked that gate and did away with it altogether, on The Cross!  It’s what I’m celebrating this week.

            The Lord has risen indeed!  He has opened the gate to His Kingdom!  Praise Jesus!!

            Now, even as we yearn – just like the people of old – for God to be physically present among us, as He will in the last day when He comes again, we rejoice because He is with us!

Posted in Easter, Faith, Hope, Worship | 1 Response »
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